Cliffhanger
by PurpleWrites
Summary: Professional rock climbers and brothers Matthew Williams and Alfred Jones are on a hiking trip in Zion National Park when all of a sudden their bus was taken away by a landslide. Now the brothers along with the other passengers of the bus struggle to survive in one of Utah's most famous parks.


**Edit: Oh my gawd, there were so many spelling errors. Sorry for the inconvenience.**

* * *

Matthew and Alfred stepped out of their car after finally finding a parking space. They stretched after their long ride from Las Vegas, coming all the way from Los Angeles. They made it just in time to eat lunch before they can go climbing on the canyon wall.

"God, I am way too tired from that drive." Alfred complained. Matthew shot him a glare.

"Um, excuse me, I was the one who drove all the way here from Las Vegas. And I was the one who drove us from Los Angeles to Las Vegas!" Matthew yelled at his ignorant twin.

"Well, navigating is hard work."

"You were asleep the whole time." Matthew's remark seemed to shut Alfred up for a moment.

"Whatever. Mari's lucky, she rode a plane to get here." Alfred said as he put on some sunblock.

"Well, it's kind of impossible to drive all the way to Utah from the Philippines..." Matthew mentally facepalmed. He strapped his camera to his neck before locking up the car. "Alright, let's go."

Matthew and Alfred put on their large backpacks, packed and ready for rock climbing. The twins have been rock climbing for fun since they were in elementary school. The idea of climbing high rises and taking in the view from above made Alfred feel like some sort of hero. For Matthew, he enjoyed the sights and took pictures whenever he could. They eventually became professionals in the sport, climbing whatever mountain they could. Zion Canyon was no exception; they had been here multiple times before.

"So, are we meeting Mar at the Grotto?" Alfred asked as they boarded the bus.

"Yes, she said we can climb a bit before our VIP tour." Matthew confirmed.

"VIP, huh? That's new." Alfred gazed out the window.

"Yeah, Maria's old friend is an experienced park ranger here. The officials want to start something, so they started this 'VIP Tour' thing. Basically we go through a section of the park that hasn't been trailed by tourists before." Matthew glanced at his brother's bored face. "Don't worry, it'll be fun."

The bus started to move as the last of the passengers got on. The driver pressed the button on his player, and it played the usual narration about the park. It took a while before they actually made it to the Grotto. As they got off on their stop, the brothers scanned the area for their friend.

"Hoy! Mat, Al!" called out a female voice. Matthew and Alfred turned their heads toward the shout. Walking towards them was a small woman. She had tan skin, long brown hair tied in a ponytail, and dark brown eyes. The woman wore a blue tank top, shorts, and a hat.

Alfred ran towards the woman when they saw her. "Maria!" Alfred brought her into a large hug, lifting her from the ground. Maria gave Matthew a hug as well when he came over. "Oh my god, it's been too long!"

"Mhm!" Maria agreed. "It's so good to see you guys again."

"How was the Philippines?" Matthew asked.

"Ugh, hot and humid, as usual. It's either hot as hell or raining really hard. But home is home. You guys should come over sometime. I know some really great rock climbing places." Maria beamed.

"That sounds nice. I'm sure the view would be-"

"We should totally go next time!" Alfred rudely cut off his brother. "Anyway, VIP?"

"Alfred, don't be so-"

"Here!" Maria passed out passes that simply said 'Zion VIP' "The tour's at 4, so don't be late. The bus will leave without you. That should be enough time for you guys to climb, right?

"Yes!" Matthew said a little too loudly. "Ahem, well, that's enough time, Maria."

"Yeah, we've been here a lot, so prep time isn't long. We've seen most of the sights already." Alfred agreed. "We meet back here at 4, right?" Maria nodded. "Sweet! Well, see ya later, Mar-mar!" Alfred gave her a quick peck on the cheels before running off.

"See you later," Matthew had almost gone for the kiss on the cheek, but awkwardly switched to a hug. He ran off after his brother.

* * *

Alfred felt the canyon wall for a crack he can hold on to. Currently, he and Matthew were scaling up Angel's Landing, a famous landmark at Zion. The view was breath-taking. You can see most of the trails that snaked up and down by the canyon. From up there, people looked like dots. The scenery was composed mostly of the colors red, green, and blue. Red for the canyons, green for the trees, and blue for the clear sky. Matthew stopped for a moment to look at the view.

"Wow." He remarked. "I can never get tired of this."

"No duh," Alfred replied. "We're here like every season."

Matthew decided to hitch himself into one of the deeper cracks in the wall. They were so close to the top, but he couldn't wait. He needed to take a picture of the valley below. He brought his camera and got to work.

"Oh my god, Matt." Matthew could here his brother complaining as he continued up the wall. "We are so close to the top of Angel's Landing but you stop to take a picture _now?_ "

"I wanna take this picture, Al." Matthew replied. He focused his lens to capture a perfect balance between the ground and the sky. "Hey, look. There's some people by the trail waving at us."

"Honey, the view is exactly the same from up there."

"Ugh, fine." Matthew put down his camera, unhitched himself from the crack, and began climbing again. After a few more feet, he made it to the top and joined Alfred. "Are you happy now?"

"Took ya long enough." Alfred stood up and stretched. "Why don't you bring out Kuma-whatever?"

Matthew's face flashed with realization as he sipped water from his bottle. He opened up his backpack and brought out a drone. It was a quadcopter that had a camera attached to it. What made it different from other drones was that it responded to voice commands and had better movement and face tracking.

"You absolutely love that thing, don't you?" Alfred teased.

"Well, I'm very thankful that Mr. Honda gave it to us on are trip to Japan." Matthew concluded. He threw the drone off the cliff. For a while, the drone didn't come back.

"Is it even turned on?" Alfred questioned.

"Just wait." All of the sudden, a flash of white zoomed up from the cliff and hovered over the brothers' heads. It was Kuma. Matthew could never fully remember what the drone's real name was; it was in Japanese.

"Yay! Now, take my picture." Alfred jogged towards the far end of the cliff. He threw his hands in the air, shouting "I'm king of the world!" He held his arms to the side and closed his eyes, feeling the warm breeze. "Hold me, Jack."

Matthew was genuinely confused until he got the reference. With a face, he walked behind Alfred and placed his hands on his brother's hips. Alfred motioned Matthew to take the picture. He glanced towards Kuma, who was already in a good spot for this Titanic reference. The picture was taken, and Matthew facepalmed. The twins sat down on a rock as they rested and drank from their bottles.

"Hey, Matt." Alfred called out. "When I die, I want to die doing the thing I love the most. This. Whether I slip and fall to my death, or climb canyon walls as an elder, I want to end my life doing what I love the most."

Matthew looked back, skeptical at his brother. "Why bring this up now? We're still young."

"Yeah, but think about it. When you die, where would you want to be?" Alfred looked at Matthew.

"Well, I'd like to die with the one I love."

"So... double suicide?"

"No! That's just- NO." Matthew caught his breath. "I mean, when I die, I want her face to be the last thing I see before I go."

"Or his face." Alfred added jokingly. "Hm. How about dying with the one you love while doing the thing you love? Like, I could die from falling off of a cliff and the last thing I see is my girlfriend's face."

"Um, no... The last thing you would see is either the sky or the ground coming really fast towards you." Matthew shrugged. "Or, y'know, you decide to drag your girlfriend down with you."

Alfred chuckled. "Then _that_ would be a double suicide."

"Unless you close your eyes. Then the last thing you see is the back of your eyelids." The twins laughed.

"That's it." Alfred stoop up. "I'm going to find someone that I can have an adventure with. We can travel the world, see new sights, everything! And I think I know where to start..." Alfred gazed down towards the trails.

"You're not really thinking of dating Maria again, are you? Because that didn't really end well." Matthew stated flatly.

"Maybe not, maybe so. The world may never know." Alfred began packing up his belongings to journey back down.

"Wise words, Dr. Seuss." Matthew packed up as well. "Let's go, Kuma."

* * *

"Anton!"

"Maria!"

Maria ran towards a man who looked a lot like he worked here. He had messy brown hair, tan skin, and bright green eyes. She gave him a large hug.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" Maria called out. "Thanks for inviting me to this tour. I bet it's going to be fun!"

"Of course it will!" The man rubbed Maria's head. "You've really grown up, haven't you? The last time I saw you, you were 11 years old. How old are you now?"

"17." Matthew and Alfred walked towards their female friend. Maria took notice and decided to introduce her friends. "Oh, Anton, this is Matthew and Alfred. They're the rock climbers I told you about. Guys, this is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo. He's a park ranger around here, and he's my uncle."

"Uncle?" Alfred questioned. "I thought he was an old friend..."

"Hola! " Antonio smiled. "I'm so glad you were able to join us today. Thanks for taking care of my niece." Antonio's eyes landed on Alfred, and suddenly his expression changed. "Wait a minute, you're the one who broke Maria''s heart, aren't you?"

"Uh..." Alfred failed to put together words to speak.

"It's fine, Anton." Maria intercepted nervously. "Anyway, let's get this tour started!"

"Oh right," Antonio shot a glare at Alfred before boarding the bus. He got on his seat and started up the bus. "Alright everyone, the VIP tour is about to begin!"

Many different people from many different nationalities boarded the bus. There was an Asian family holding up a GoPro via selfie-stick, a tall man who wore a scarf despite it being summer, a blonde man who attached his bike to the front of the bus, a man with large eyebrows who herded two young kids onto the bus, two men who looked almost identical, a rather sophisticated looking man was using sign language to speak to a woman, and a large, buff man accompanied by an albino. Matthew, Alfred, and Maria sat down on the seats closest to the driver.

"Alright, listen up!" Antonio called out to the passengers. "Welcome to Zion National Park's first VIP tour. On this tour, we will be seeing sights you wouldn't be able to see on anyour trail!" Antonio clapped his hands together. "Any questions before we get this show on the road?"

A man with dark brown hair rose his hand. "What kind of trail are we going on?" His voice had a heavy Italian accent.

"I'm glad you asked!" Antonio's excitement disgusted the Italian man. "The road we will be driving on is unpaved, and we will mostly be driving next to a cliff. However the view below is magnificent since it's a beautiful valley with wildlife running free."

The man who sat next to the Italian man shrieked. "Ve, next to a cliff?! Are we going to be okay? Fratello, hold me!" He clung on to the Italian man's arm as he spite a long string of curses. The man with large eyebrows covered the two children's ears.

"Don't worry. Unlike the other shuttle-buses, this one was especially built for hash terrain such as the one we are in. The tires can handle any terrain and the glass is bulletproof. There are also med kits, life vests, everything we would need in an accident." The man seemed to calm down a bit. "Any more questions?" No one rise their hand. "No? Alrighy, buckle up and let's get going!"

* * *

The tour was going well. As Antonio said, the sights truly were something. Matthew couldn't stop taking pictures with his camera. Alfred wouldn't shut up about how great it would be to venture out there. Maria would entertain Alfred's idea and tell him how he would survive out there.

"Peter, Wendy, come back here!"

Two children ran up to the front of the bus. They sat next to Matthew and Alfred, buckling up in their seats. One of them was a boy, about 12 years old. He, like everyone else, wore a shirt and shorts. He had blonde hair and like one of the passengers had bushy eyebrows. The other child was a girl, also 12. She had curly brown hair tied up to the side with a flower in it. She wore a tank top and a shirt. Her eyebrows weren't as large.

"Hi there!" The boy greeted happily. Matthew was a little startled.

"Oh... hi." He said awkwardly.

"My name's Peter, and this is my cousin, Wendy!" The girl avoided eye contact with Matthew. "She's kinda shy." Matthew giggled at how cute they were.

"Peter, Wendy..." The man with large eyebrows caught up to the two children. "You two are in trouble..."

"No standing when the bus is moving." Antonio called out. The man sat down across from the kids.

"I'm sorry if they've troubled you." The man apologized.

Matthew shook his head. "No, it's fine. They didn't bother me."

"That's good. My name is Arthur. This is my brother Peter and my cousin Wendy." Arthur reached out his hand and Matthew took it.

"I'm Matthew, this is my brother Alfred, and that's his ex Maria."

"Hey!" Alfred elbowed Matthew's side at his remark.

Arthur chuckled. "So what brings you here on this tour?"

"We were invited by our friend Maria. And we also came here to see the sights and look for good rock climbing spots." Matthew showed Arthur a few photos he had taken while climbing Angel's Landing earlier.

"Wow, that's amazing." Arthur said in awe. "So do you and your brother rock climb often?"

"You bet!" Alfred intervened. "In fact, we're professionals."

"Huh." was all Arthur could say.

"And how about you, Arthur? What do you do?" Matthew asked.

Arthur rubbed his head sheepishly. "I'm a graduate from the University of Cambridge, but so far I haven't found a stable job yet."

"How do you not find a job when you're a graduate from Cambridge?" Matthew asked in shock.

"It's harder to find a job in America than I thought. Better people with better attitudes and schedules are getting the jobs I apply for." Arthur admitted sadly.

"Well, I hope you can find a job someday." Matthew looked around the bus. Most people were very interested and amazed by the sights, others couldn't care less. The Asian family seemed to be filming the entire time with their GoPro.

As they drove close to the cliff, Matthew couldn't help but notice how high up they were and how steep the drop was. The valley down below was filled with trees and plants, like a forest. Matthew couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.

And then suddenly a rock hit the top of the bus.

The bus stopped abruptly, causing everyone to jerk forward. Antonio looked up at the roof with a serious look on his face. In the moment of silence, noise suddenly erupted. There were many people who were very worried while the others tried to calm them down.

"Artie, what was that...?" Peter asked worriedly.

"It's... probably nothing, dear." Arthur assured.

"Anton, what's going on?" Maria questioned. Antonio only gulped.

"Alright, amigos, we're going to speed this trip up a little bit. Hold tight." As the bus started moving, a loud rumble could be heard coming down towards them.

"Landslide!"

The rocks and sand smashed into one side of the bus, pushing the bus off the road and sending down the cliff. The rocks luckily didn't smash through the windows; having bulletproof windows was a good idea. The bus tumbled down the cliff momentarily. Antonio swore in Spanish, trying his best to reorient the bus. Everyone was holding on for their dear lives. Everyone couldn't help themselves from screaming.

Antonio had managed to get the bus on its wheels somehow, and they slid down the steep cliff. But he didn't keep it that way for long. Eventually the bus started rolling again. Antonio couldn't tell which way was up or down anymore. All he knew was that he felt sick.

The bus finally hit the ground after what seemed like forever, spinning several feet from the base of the cliff before actually stopping. Dust and sand floated around the air. Matthew choked in the atmosphere.

"Alfred... are you okay...?" Matthew spoke between coughs.

"Hnng... yeah..." Alfred groaned.

"Peter? Wendy?" Arthur called out. He was the first one standing up from his seat. Everyone detached themselves from their seat belts and fell on the ground. "Peter?! Wendy!?" Matthew noticed Arthur was clutching his left shoulder.

"Artie... I'm over here..." Peter sniffed. Arthur ran towards their seats, unbuclking the seatbelts. Arthur tried to cry them off their seats, but he yelped in pain. His shoulder was definitely messed up. Matthew and Alfred offered to help the children off their seats.

"Is everyone okay?" Antonio called out. No one responded.

"Ugh, Alfred..." Maria moaned. Alfred turned to where Maria was sitting to find her leg pinner down by a rock that had broken through the roof.

"Fuck..." Alfred rushed to Maria's aid. He rolled the rock off of her leg, which looked completely crushed. Alfred tried his best to not throw up. He carried Maria out of the bus. The other passengers followed suit and climbed out the bus.

Alfred looked around him. The valley they were in was surrounded completely by tall, monolithic canyon walls. Alfred set Maria down, leaning her against a rock. She winced in pain.

"Do we have any doctors in here? Anyone?" Alfred called out. The ground rumbled as another landslide fell. The passengers braced themselves, but none of the rocks hit them.

"I'll go get the med kits." Antonio climbed back into the bus.

"Here." Alfred turned to see the man with the heavy Italian accent. "We're not exactly doctors, but my fratello and I are nurses."

"Okay, thank you...?" Alfred questioned.

"Lovino. My brother's name is Feliciano." Lovino and his brother began their work on Maria and Arthur, as well as the other injured.

"Alfred..." Alfred turned around as his name was called. He saw his brother, his face full of worry.

"D-Don't worry, we can get out of here," Alfred's voice shook, "we'll just climb back up the way we came and follow the road back, right?"

"Alfred..." Matthew looked like he was about to cry. "We can't. No one other than us can climb something this steep and tall. And we have injured people to worry about. Alfred..."

Alfred clenched his fists. "So, what? We're stuck here?!"

Matthew only nodded.

* * *

 _Breaking News: A bus on a VIP tour at Zion National Park was taken off road by a landslide. Officials say the search-and-rescue party are on their way to rescue the survivors. Locating the bus will be difficult, however, as the tracking system on the bus suddenly shut off. The bus is speculated to have landed in the Zion Canyon valley..._

* * *

 _More news on that bus from Zion. It appears the canyon wall the road was paved on seems to showing signs of extreme erosion. The landslide that took the bus away completely covered the road, and there are more coming. The area is deemed unstable, and the search-and-rescue party has been delayed..._

* * *

 _"This isn't great publicity for the officials at Zion National Park."_

 _"You're right, what was supposed to a sort of flight test for what was going to be their new attraction just went wrong."_

 _"Families of the passengers have been calling in, worried sick for their family members..."_

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** Haha. This story is called Cliffhanger so there's obviously going to be cliffhangers.

I got the idea for this story when I actually went to Zion last Monday. This past week, my family and I have been going to the "Mighty 5 Parks" here in Utah. Forgive me if there are any grammar or spelling errors as this was written on my phone.

For those of you wondering about W:IA, don't worry! I've been writing that as well. Expect a new chapter soon. I have another story to write later, but I'll prioritize W:IA first.

 **Please review and favorite! It really helps me to hear what you think about my story!**

See you next chapter~

-Purple


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